Team X has been assembled for the big screen, and they are ready to kick off the pitch action. The live-action film adaptation of Blue Lock, based on the manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura, has unveiled its official trailer, confirming a 7 August release in Japan.
In a separate new visual, Japan Academy Film Prize winner Masataka Kubota (Death Note) was also announced as the actor for Jinpachi Ego, joining an ensemble cast that includes Fumiya Takahashi (Kamen Rider Zero-One) as protagonist Yoichi Isagi, Kaito Sakurai as Meguru Bachira, Kyohei Takahashi as Hyoma Chigiri, Kouta Nomura as Rensuke Kunigami, Yuzu Aoki as Gurimu Igarashi, Sho Nishigaki as Asahi Naruhaya, Yuki Tachibana as Gin Gagamaru, Raizo Ishikawa as Jingo Raichi, Joey Iwanaga (Alice in Borderland) as Okuhito Iemon, Shunya Asano as Wataru Kuon, Yuki Sakurai as Yudai Imamura, and Yuki Kira (Shogun) as Ryosuke Kira.
Made with full cooperation from the Japan Football Association and J.League, the adaptation is helmed by In Love and Deep Water director Yusuke Taki, who worked off a screenplay by Tetsuo Kamata. Kodansha and Credeus are producing, while former Japan national team midfielder Daisuke Matsui served as soccer supervisor. According to Matsui, the actors underwent rigorous training to match their characters’ skill levels from the source material as closely as possible.
The original work began serialisation in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine in August 2018, and has sold over 50 million copies across 24 languages to date, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Season 1 of the anime aired from October 2022 to March 2023, followed by an anime film adaptation based on the Episode Nagi spin-off manga in 2024. The sequel aired from October to December 2024, and a third season is currently in the works at Eight Bit.
The official description for Blue Lock reads, “Japan’s desire for World Cup glory leads the Japanese Football Association to launch a new rigorous training program to find the national team’s next striker. Three hundred high school players are pitted against each other for the position, but only one will come out on top. Who among them will be the striker to usher in a new era of Japanese soccer?”
The live-action Blue Lock film releases in Japan on 7 August.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
